Introduction
Augmented reality (AR) apps allow users to interact with virtual objects in the physical world through their smartphones and tablets. AR has been around for decades, but it was only recently that it became possible to create such apps on mass scale. Here are some of the best tools I’ve found so far:
3D Photo Editor
3D Photo Editor is a free tool for creating 3D photos and videos. You can use it to create 3D images from 2D photos, or add 3D effects to your existing images. In addition to these basic functions, you can also create panoramas, stereograms, 3D movies and more!
AR Studio
AR Studio is an augmented reality development platform. It’s a Windows application that allows you to create your own augmented reality apps in minutes. The free toolkit comes with pre-built templates, assets, and animations for building out your ideas quickly and easily.
AR Studio was created by Occipital–the company behind the Structure Sensor 3D sensor–and it’s designed to work with their hardware as well as other 3D sensors such as the Microsoft HoloLens and Intel RealSense cameras.
BlippAR
BlippAR is a mobile app that lets you use your phone to add AR content to real-world objects. It’s a free app and can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
You simply point your device at an object, such as an ad or product packaging, then press a button on the screen of your phone (or tablet) to scan it for digital data. Once this has been detected by BlippAR’s computer vision algorithms and recognition engine, it will create an image overlay containing additional information about what you’re looking at–like information about where the item came from or how much it costs–on top of whatever else might be visible there already (such as text).
Catchoom VR SDK
Catchoom VR SDK is a software development kit that allows you to create augmented reality experiences. It has a 3D engine, 3D object recognition and 3D object creation tools. The Catchoom platform provides users with access to an AR/VR content library on their browser or mobile devices.
Catchoom supports both Unity and Unreal Engine 4 game engines, so you can easily integrate it into your existing projects if needed.
Image Recognition
Image recognition is a way to identify objects in images. It’s used for augmented reality apps, but also has other applications as well. It can be used to recognize faces, text and landmarks with varying degrees of accuracy. Image recognition can be used create a virtual tour of a real space–or even just for fun!
Layar
Layar is an augmented reality browser that allows you to see the world in a new way. You can use it to find information about your surroundings and interact with it.
It’s available for Android and iOS devices, so you can download it from the App Store or Google Play depending on what type of device you have. It works with any device that has a camera–so if you’ve got an iPhone 6s or Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Layar will work great!
MARS 3D Engine
MARS 3D Engine is an augmented reality engine for mobile devices. It’s free and open source, so you can use it to create your own AR apps.
MARS works on Android and iOS devices, and it can be used to create interactive experiences such as games or virtual tours of places in the real world.
Metaio SDK
Metaio SDK is a tool for developers to create augmented reality applications. It can be used to develop AR apps for iOS, Android and other platforms. The Metaio SDK uses the camera to recognize objects in real time and overlay information on top of them.
Reality Editor VR (Virtual Reality)
Reality Editor is a free tool for creating augmented reality apps. You can use it to create AR apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices as well as web browsers.
Reality Editor’s features include:
- A visual programming language that lets you create 3D scenes with ease
- Support for importing 3D models, animations and textures from Blender or Sketchfab (an online community where artists share their work)
These tools can help you get started if you want to create an augmented reality app.
If you’re interested in creating an augmented reality app, these tools will help get you started.
- Create a demo of your app or proof of concept by using one of the many free software options available. This can be useful for getting feedback from potential users and investors alike.
- Use these tools to create interactive prototypes so that designers can see how they’ll look on screen before they build anything else.
Conclusion
Now that you know about these tools, it’s time to start making your own augmented reality app. We hope this article has helped you decide which one is right for your project. Be sure to check out the other articles on our site if there are any other questions or concerns that arise!
